Death Watch
by Rogue A.I
Summary: When Kira starts judging people with his divine powers, the Others in Japan can feel the Power emanating. However, Kira's profile fits that of Light Other. The Kanto Night Watch must catch him before it falls to the Inquisition...easier said than done.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: After reading the last book in the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko and watching the second live-action Death Note film, I felt inspired by both! Then I noticed that it'd be fascinating to see how the two worlds would fit together. It seems to work, so here's the first chapter of my crossover. There may well be spoilers for both Death Note and the Night Watch series. If you aren't familiar with the Night Watch, Wikipedia has a relatively useful article on it. Also, I may get some things wrong in both- haven't read the original Night Watch trilogy for a while, and haven't watched all the anime in a while, so I apologise in advance. Anyway, on with the chapter._

_Note: Others are classified by levels of power. There are seven levels, with seventh-level being the lowest and first-level being the highest. Above first-level there is Higher, and after that you get Beyond Classification, or something like that. There is something stronger than Beyond Classification, but only two people have been that level- the great wizard Merlin and the character Nadya. This level is Absolute or zero-point magician. So, a leader of the Night/Day Watch would have to be Beyond Classification, a highly-ranked member of the Watch would be first-level, and someone who has raised their level a lot either because they're genuinely strong or through magical method is a Higher._

_Disclaimer: The Night Watch tetralogy and associated concepts are all owned by Sergei Lukyanenko. Death Note and all associated concepts are owned by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata._

**Death Watch Chapter One: A sudden pulse of Power**

About four of the Others sitting at desks adjacent to mine react before I even feel the sudden pulse of Power.

"It's Kira!" Tarou hisses, the weakest and youngest of us. Hayato rolls his eyes, flicking a tiny fireball at the man with his left index finger.

"We know that, Tarou." Ginchiyo waves her hand and a Shield of Denial intercepts the fireball. It fizzles out and she frowns at Hayato. She is third-level at least (I hadn't consciously checked her aura in a while), and she holds some authority in our office.

"The Power that is emitted when he kills someone is not anything like either Dark or Light spells. You know that Tarou's only just been through training, so of course he's still reacting to Power being given off, especially Power that's foreign to him. Have some sense, Hayato." As swift-thinking as his namesake, the little eagle is impulsive to a fault- perfect for patrols and field operations, but no good for paperwork. He's a fifth-level verging on fourth, and his level intimidates Tarou. Ginchiyo often intercedes when Hayato starts to pick on the poor seventh-level.

'Hinata-chan, the boss wants you and Ginchiyo-sama in the meeting room now." Shiori, the young woman at the computer tells us. She has shoulder-length brown hair and despite only being a low fifth-level, she works wonders when it comes to organisation and filling out forms. Ginchiyo knows that she could count on Shiori to keep an eye on Hayato. Catching Ginchiyo's eye, she winks and we leave the office, walking down the corridor furnished with bamboo plants in terracotta pots. We finally reach the boss' door (the only door that wasn't the typical Japanese sliding one) and I hesitate. I don't have many dealings with the leader of the Kanto branch of the Night Watch, and if he wants to see a lowly sixth-level mage bordering on fifth-level, either I'm in trouble or he needs a tool to use. Ginchiyo smiles at my consternation, lifting her hand gracefully and rapping on the door briskly three times. The door then swings outwards and Ginchiyo walks straight in. I follow her, the tips of my fingers starting to twitch in anticipation. The boss stands up behind his desk, smiling at me serenely.

"Akishin Hinata. Gekite Ginchiyo. A pleasure to see you." I know that behind his young and charming exterior, a great mage beyond classification is concealed. I smile shakily back and Ginchiyo inclines her head, not quite bowing. "I called you in because currently the other operatives are currently occupied." Ginchiyo asks politely, making sure to address him by title,

"Kantoku-san, is this anything to do with the Kira case?" His smile broadens,

"Gekite, tell me, have you been looking at the reality lines?" She shakes her head,

"No, kantoku-san, I sensed it." Our leader folds his arms slowly.

"To sense a Greater Magician's intentions? That alone would raise your level. Gekite, after this business is over, I intend to submit you for reclassification. Anyway, come and sit." He gestures and two chairs appear behind us. We sit and look down at the desk we're behind. There's a map with hundreds of glowing dots on. A lot of them are centred on our region. "Now, you two, I understand you're not stupid. You've felt the Power that is given off when Kira strikes down a criminal. It's not a type of Power that we're familiar with, but it's clearly supernatural, otherwise there wouldn't be any Power given off." Ginchiyo nods,

"So, we're trying to work out what method Kira uses to kill?" He laughs, a musical sound.

"Don't get ahead of ourselves, Gekite. We want to determine who or what Kira is, first of all." As I stare at the dots, I'm startled out of my reverie as our boss drops thick folders of paperwork on the table. "Here's a list of deaths. Every single one of those murdered so far is a criminal." We begin to look through the profiles, and after half an hour, we turn our attention to the map.

"So there's a substantial chance that this Kira person is directly under our jurisdiction, seeing as most of his first victims are in our region." Ginchiyo mused. Our boss got serious quickly, "Yes. As you can tell, both Watches are going crazy over this, and the Inquisition is getting annoyed. I'd give them two weeks at the least before they take the matter into their own hands. First we need to identify the origin of our perpetrator." I speak for the first time, nervously,

"Kantoku-sama, firstly we know that it's not a human, right? I mean, since there's Power being given off." His piercing gaze goes straight through me and I stop shaking, caught in the headlights.

"Akishin, Gekite, please, call me Mitakaro. I'm a Light Other, no different from you. Don't let rank blind you and scare you. Anyway, that would be the first conclusion to come to. Anything to say, Gekite?" Ginchiyo adds,

"Well, I agree- since the Power doesn't match ours, it could be an artefact of some sort. Artefacts this dangerous are usually kept under lock and seal by the Inquisition, and no run-of-the-mill human could just stroll into an Inquisition building and make off with something like this." Mitakaro claps once and I blink.

"Very good, you two! So, obviously an Other is the perpetrator. Now we most focus on what kind of Other. Vampire? Shapeshifter? Light? Dark?" Now I'm sure from Mitakaro's manner that he already knew all this, that he was testing us. Frowning slightly, I resolve to pass this test with flying colours. Ginchiyo senses the change in my emotions and glances at me out of the corner of her eye. I can tell she knows what I'm thinking, and I can just about feel her responding to it. She takes the lead.

"The major clue is that it's all criminals. That automatically makes me think of the Light." I chip in,

"Yes, we've had to deal with lots of Light Others trying to act on their sense of justice in the past- it's a main cause of Day Watch interventions…what was it, 51.2% of all incidents in the past five years?" Ginchiyo smirks slightly- she'd been one of the first to read the report after Shiori collated the data and printed it to give to Mitakaro. I hope my memory isn't deceiving me. Mitakaro freezes for a moment and then a smile spreads slowly across his face…the smile of a predatory cat about to catch the budgie.

"51.2% exactly, Akishin. I think your talents may be wasted as a sixth-level mage. Remind me to look at you for reclassification too. Anyway, please, go on." I take that as my cue to continue,

"There's a rogue Light Other out there, either bitter because of past incidents or maybe they aren't registered, but they have the relevant powers. Anyway, they believe that justice isn't being done and are using their power to do what they think that the Night Watch should be doing." Ginchiyo supplies before Mitakaro can interrupt,

"And they have contacts of some kind, they know someone who can get access to the Inquisition's vaults." Mitakaro lets her finish and nods thoughtfully.

"Very good, you two, very good. But there's something simple you overlooked." I frown again and Ginchiyo looks mystified. He puts us out of our misery quickly, scratching his head absently as he explains,

"None of those criminals are Others, at least, none of them are initiated. They're all normal people. Why would a Light Other be preoccupied with humans when Dark Others are known to compromise humans even if they only need extra Power?" I interrupt, refusing to lose points,

"Light Others by definition act to help others, where Dark Others act to help themselves. In killing off normal criminals, he's helping other humans. As Others, we tend to look down on humans, whether in pity or in arrogance. Perhaps he looks down with pity, and so acts on his feelings of pity." Mitakaro pauses, and I get the feeling that I may have hit the target even while shooting in the dark.

"Good, Akishin, you won't back down and you aren't afraid to adapt your thoughts if you hit a roadblock. I must admit, your perspective does make sense. And to be honest," He lifts his hand to his mouth and starts to bite his thumb in concentration, "I haven't completely figured out how a human would get hold of an Inquisitional artefact yet. So, we have either this misguided Light Other or a human that is in illegal possession of an artefact." Ginchiyo looks at me with respect and I feel my cheeks heat up under their combined attention. "If it's the first, we're in hot water and Ousoumai won't let me live it down for at least fifty years. If it's the second, we're looking at some serious allegations- corruption in the Inquisition, someone influencing humans…Either way, whoever is involved will definitely be looking at the death sentence. We need to get more operatives on the case as soon as we can. That's why I'm pairing you two up and authorising you to go out on field operations." My jaw drops involuntarily- but I'm cannon fodder when it comes to firefights, I'm just a sixth-level! I should still be handling paperwork. And when everyone hears… "Don't panic, Hinata-chan, I'm sure Hayato won't be jealous. At least, not when he discovers that you're now a fifth-level." I'm used to Ginchiyo picking up the occasional thought or feeling of mine, but for the boss to read my mind is disconcerting.

"W-wait, fifth-level?" I finally react to what Mitakaro says, and he smirks, opening his top drawer. He withdraws something and throws them at us. Ginchiyo snatches it out of the air smoothly and I fumble with mine, just about grabbing it in my cupped hands. Two battle amulets with five charges each, by the feel of it.

"Yes, Hinata, don't be so surprised. I'm sure that you were aware that you possessed the capability to reach this level deep down. Anyway, I'd better get onto the paperwork. I want you to go out on patrol immediately. Start in Tokyo east section, from that Daikoku school to about Toutei Park. Any questions?" Ginchiyo shakes her head, hanging her amulet around her neck. I place mine in my jacket pocket and Mitakaro waves us off as we go. We wait until we're a good few miles away from the building before voicing our opinions- Kami forbid that our boss hears us.

"Well, Hinata, no wonder he promoted you. I was surprised he didn't just raise you right to fourth!" Ginchiyo showers me with praise and I find myself blushing again. However, I can manage some words,

"F-fourth? Of course not, Ginchiyo-san…honestly, I knew that I could be bordering on fifth-level, but there's no way I could just go straight up to fourth without a lot of training!" Ginchiyo laughs and I can tell she knows something.

"Your aura…I can feel that there's something missing, something is hidden in it. I think that you have latent power that will probably emerge when it's most needed, like in battle." I gulp. Battle? She thinks that it'll come to fighting so soon? My reason, dormant after my objection in Mitakaro's office, surfaces again and I relax. Ginchiyo is a Battle Magician, so of course her main forte is fighting. She'd see a potential fight everywhere. Then again, if she's partnered up with me, obviously Mitakaro can foresee a fight. I'm a lowly sixth- well, a fifth-level, so I'd need a Battle Magician to protect me. So it's not entirely paranoia on her part. "Well, come on!" I realise that I've stopped walking, and I continue. We're doing our rounds on foot- it's easier to spot things this way. Trains and public transport in general are too distracting- you see all sorts of people on public transport, and uninitiated Others are big distractions. We're trained to report them on sight, so of course we'd have trouble overcoming those instincts.

"Hinata, have you got your battle amulet?" Ginchiyo asks as we walk through a neighbourhood at a leisurely pace. I immediately tense, reaching into my pocket.

"Yes, why?" I hiss. She laughs at me,

"No, don't worry, no ambush spotted. Just make sure you have it at hand if anything happens."

* * *

_The repugnant creature cackled, its large ebony wings flapping regularly as it floated by the window._

_"What is it, Ryuk?" The monster watched the two women walk by with interest._

_"Kukukuku…nothing." Both of those women had a most interesting lifespan. The numbers shifted from second to second, growing, warping, mutating…the lifespans didn't stay regular at all. Those women weren't normal humans. The boy who had turned to look at him sighed in annoyance, turning back to his desk._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Chapter 2! We meet a familiar character. This chapter may be confusing to some- it's in the viewpoint of various characters. It's in first-person for Hinata and Anton, and third-person for Yagami Light. Also, the song lyrics (marked by an asterisk) are from "The Final" by Dir en Grey. "Gaikokujin" means foreigner in Japanese._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, The Night Watch tetralogy or the song "The Final". They all belong to their respective owners._

* * *

**Chapter Two: Gaikokujin**

The young man picked up the phone, answering immediately,

"Boris Ignatievich! How wonderful to hear from you!"

"_What name do you go by now, peach boy?" _The man smirked,

"Mitakaro. To what do I owe the honour of this call, Boris Ignatievich?" The voice on the end of the phone sounded amused,

"_Using my patronymic, I see the little peach boy hasn't forgotten his manners after four hundred, almost five hundred years. Look, I don't have time to chat, although I wouldn't mind catching up with you. You know your geography, Russia is near enough to Japan that the higher-ups in the Night Watch are demanding that we send in back-up whether you need it or not." _The head of the Kanto Night Watch nodded, replying,

"Of course. You're the superior, I'm leaving it to your jurisdiction as to what your people do, but I would ask that you send over a representative so that we can communicate properly…in accordance with the rules, of course." Boris' reply was curt but not rude.

"_Yes, yes. I'm sending you a newly-promoted third-level mage. You can keep him as a gopher or send him out on duty, whatever it is you decide. We'll be working on the case too. I'll get a message to you if we find anything." _The phone clicked as the man on the other side of the phone hung up. Mitakaro placed it down, smiling thoughtfully.

* * *

"Welcome to Narita Airport, Other-san!" The Light Other at the registration desk bowed to me. I hadn't been to Japan on duty before, and their incessant politeness and general…chirpiness, for want of a better word, played on my nerves. Even the Dark Other (a mid-level vampire, I could tell through the Twilight) was polite. Back home, the Dark Other would be stand-offish at best, downright rude at worst.

"Yes…thank you. Anton Gorodetsky, Light Other, Moscow Night Watch." I felt them pass a weak probe over me and I resisted the urge to sigh as they both became more deferential, if that was even possible.

"A pleasure to meet you, Anton-san. I understand you have business with the Kanto branch of the Night Watch?" I nodded tersely and they processed the necessary paperwork. I waited impatiently until they told me I was free to go. I immediately set off, taking a taxi to the headquarters of the Kanto Night Watch. The metropolis of Tokyo and the surrounding area was similar to various places in Russia- skyscrapers and apartment blocks everywhere, but they were pushing it here. It was all glass and metal, and it made me feel uneasy. I fished around in my pocket for my minidisc player, listening to it to try and calm my nerves.

"The intention is clear, I stare... with this left hand, unable to be worded.

Every time I bleed, there lies the reason to live... And I discover words being so vivid and bright.

Even loved ones scatter like petals from flowers in my hand.

So even if I engraved the meaning that I lived in my hand, it will only be known as flowers of vanity.

The final."*

I frowned almost imperceptibly. Semyon must have brought me back some Japanese music when he last visited Japan- I didn't remember owning any Japanese music or putting it on my minidiscs. Shrugging it off as a coincidence (unwise for an Other), I waited for the taxi driver to ferry me to the address. The journey was 3000 yen. I gave him 3500 and he returned the 500 immediately. Oh yes, they didn't take tips in Japan. Thanking him, I got out and stood on the pavement, waiting for him to retreat. Checking that there was nobody around who would inadvertently witness a man disappearing into thin air, I looked down at my shadow under the bright streetlights. Pulling it up in front of me, I stepped into the Twilight. The world immediately grew grey, with the points of light showing up as a paler shade of grey. However, no building was to be found. Raising my shadow again, ignoring the chill of the Twilight, I entered the second level. Everything grew darker, buildings disappeared and a large stone castle appeared. Walking up to it and cursing the coldness of the Twilight absent-mindedly, I read the plaque before opening the door, entering and surfacing into the real world. The woman at the reception desk started and then smiled.

"Gorodetsky Anton-san, welcome." Ah, yes, the curious Japanese habit of surname first. I nodded in reply. "Our leader's office is on the sixth floor. I'm sure you will notice it." She giggled- was that her idea of a joke? I managed a smile in return and entered the lift to her left. Pressing the button for floor six, I wondered what this division of the Night Watch would be like. I'd been to giant offices before with a myriad of floors and small, modest buildings where the Light and Dark sat next to each other politely. I hoped that it wasn't the latter. Finally the lift doors opened and as I stepped out into the corridor, I understood her joke. All the doors on this floor were paper thin (what was it with the Japanese and their sliding doors?) except their leader's door. You can't break through a door of solid metal, let alone launch a fireball through it. I paced down the corridor quickly, uncomfortable with these surroundings, and the door opened before I'd even reached out to knock on it.

"Come in, Mr. Gorodetsky." A cultured voice reached my ears and I proceeded into the room. The man standing before me looked young, very young- if I was ignorant of the effects magic had on a person's appearance, I'd believe that he was too young to be leading a branch of the Night Watch. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Mitakaro." He didn't bow to me, instead offering his hand. I shook it briskly. Evidently this Mitakaro man wanted me to feel at ease here, so he disposed of the usual customs.

"Likewise. G- Boris Ignatievich sends his regards." I almost slipped and spoke Boris' real name- I suspected that many strong magicians kept their names hidden. Mentioning my boss prompted me to remember what I had in my bag- a few ignorance spells had allowed me to bring a bottle of premium vodka through Customs. I took off my backpack, reaching into it, and pulled it out, placing it on Mitakaro's desk with a loud thud. His eyes lit up,

"Of course! Send him my thanks." He never once took his eyes off the bottle. "Now, I understand that you've a lot of experience with fieldwork and battles." I nodded, wondering just how much allure that bottle held. Did Boris put some kind of entrancing spell on it? "I want you to go out on patrol. Let me just call your partner in." He closed his eyes for a moment, finally removing his attention from the prized vodka. Soon enough, another man burst into the room swiftly. His haste made Mitakaro roll his eyes.

"What is it, boss?" He then noticed my presence and frowned.

"Introduce yourself to your new patrol partner. He's fresh in from Moscow and will be staying with us for a while." The man's lips pursed in annoyance, and he bowed stiffly.

"Yasuki Hayato." The frustration rolled off him powerfully and I suppressed a wry grin.

"Anton Gorodetsky." Mitakaro seemed oblivious to his feelings.

"Alright. I want you two to take the Tokyo east route, but I want you to patrol the public transport. I have people out on foot already. Since our guest isn't familiar with the directions yet, you're responsible for preventing him from getting lost, Hayato. Understand!" Hayato grumbled,

"Got it." He almost stormed out and I hurried after him. As I left, I noticed that Mitakaro had already opened the vodka bottle and was now taking a swig straight from it. I couldn't help but sigh at the lack of manners…although this was Japan, not Russia, so I couldn't criticise. When living with wolves, howl like a wolf and so on.

* * *

"This broadcast will be interrupted for a special worldwide bulletin from the ICPO." The young man paused, looking up from his desk and swivelling on his chair to face the television. The monster at his shoulder stared at the screen with bulging eyes. A man with scornful eyes and dark hair appeared on the screen.

"I am the world-famous detective L." The boy's eyes widened and the creature cackled hoarsely. "As you who are watching know, many criminals have dropped dead of heart attacks recently. This is the work of a person who calls himself 'Kira'. This mass homicide is without doubt the worst crime in history, and this 'Kira' is a murderer. Kira is evil, and we will catch you and put you to death!" The boy's face twisted into an expression of hatred. He turned back to the book on his desk and scrawled a name across the left-hand page with barely restrained fury, 'Lind L. Tailor'.

"You're a fool, L, exposing yourself like that." He muttered, and looked down at his watch. After 40 seconds, the man on television clutched at his chest, face screwing up in pain, and keeled over onto his desk. "Heh, I win." The young man grinned darkly. Several aides appeared on-screen, carrying the prone body off. Suddenly, the image was replaced by a white background with a black "L" placed in the middle in an elaborate font.

"Impressive. So, Kira can kill without touching a person." The voice that spoke sounded artificial, clearly tampered with by electronic means. The young man's eyes widened. "The person you just killed was not the detective L, but a convicted criminal who was due to die at this time today anyway. I am very much still alive. So, come on Kira, kill me now! Do it!" The teenager began to shake in anger, glaring at the television. "So, you can't do it. I understand now. Kira needs both a face and name to kill." The young man pushed a hand through his short brown hair, breathing raggedly. "Another thing, Kira- you were told that this was being broadcast worldwide. That was a lie. This was broadcast only to those in the Kanto region of Japan. That means that Kira is in Kanto. You will be sent to your death soon, Kira!" The monster grinned, sharp teeth becoming visible.

"Humans sure are interesting, aren't they, Light?" The young man, Light, looked down. His eyes were obscured by his fringe.

"I'll find out who L is and kill him." He spoke quietly. The television said as if in reply,

"I will use any means necessary to bring you to justice, Kira." Light shook his head.

"No, you won't…because…" The voice on television joined him,

"I am justice!"

* * *

I stopped immediately, summoning up my shadow and entering the Twilight as quickly as possible. Nothing on the first level. I forced the Power out of me as quickly as possible to enter the second level. Again, no sign of anything. I still had strength in me, enough strength to at least glance into the third level. The only things that I could see were slabs of stone littered around like a labyrinth. I didn't even bother looking up at the dull grey sky. I'd never been in the third level for longer than about half a minute, and it fascinated me- it was no longer the standard greyscale version of the human world. It was completely different. It was like the Minotaur's labyrinth, and the only way to keep track of your location in the human world was by using Power like a GPS. Of course, that was easier said than done, as being in the third level was a constant drain on the Power that you still had, and if you weren't careful you would struggle to escape the Twilight, just like a novice. I stared for a little while longer, forgetting what I was supposed to be doing and why I was looking into the Twilight. Staring at the dried out plants that occasionally decorated the stone, I only realised that I'd lost track of what was happening when I felt a weak form of Power slide over this level of the Twilight inconsequentially. Of course, I'd abandoned Hayato to find the source of that strange Power. Turning around and looking behind me, I found the way out and emerged into the second, where a sweating Hayato was panicking.

"Are you alright?" I asked casually, and he glared at me, almost shouting,

"You disappeared just like that when I felt that odd Power! I thought it had done something to you! What were you doing?!" I attempted to placate him half-heartedly,

"I thought it might have originated from the Twilight, so I went into it to check. Nothing there, not even on the third level." Hayato paled and I frowned- he wasn't going to dematerialise on me, was he? I reached forward, grabbing his elbow, and dragged him back through the first level then into the human world.

"Y-you're strong…fourth-level?" He stuttered and I realised why he'd suddenly turned pale when I mentioned accessing the third level of the Twilight. He'd probably just realised my aura was that of a stronger Other.

"No, third." His reaction would have been vaguely amusing if I had time to waste. He froze and his bad attitude dropped away immediately.

"No wonder you could just stand there in the second level calmly! Don't you feel tired?" I laughed.

"It is tiring and cold, of course it is. But the discomfort is something that can be pushed to the back of the mind, that's why it's not difficult to endure." Hayato frowned.

"Cold? No, it's not cold. It's heavy. It's like the sky is weighing down on me-"

"_Anton, Hayato. Return as soon as you can." _A voice in my head interrupts Hayato's explanation of how the Twilight affects him and our eyes meet. Mitakaro has called us back. This must be serious.

* * *

"_I am justice!" _The artificial voice boomed. The _gaikokujin_ leans back in his chair decisively.

"I don't know who we're dealing with here, but they're definitely smart. He's figured out how Kira kills simply by this broadcast…" Ginchiyo nods. We'd suddenly been summoned back by Mitakaro in response to this new issue. He recorded it to show us all. There are a lot of us crammed into this small room. I don't know who the foreigner is, but I can't help but be intimidated by him. I can sense that he's not weak. Ginchiyo adds,

"There is a chance that this person is an Other, initiated or not. He could have been taunting Kira to prove his suspicions. If he's an Other, he could probably feel the Power that's given off when Kira kills. So he taunts Kira, his proxy is killed and he feels the Power. Also, he doesn't seem to possess that rationality that humans cling to. What kind of self-respecting human would believe that someone possesses the power to kill just by knowing someone's name and face? They'd scoff and think it was just some fantasy novel plot." I frown, and Tarou suddenly speaks up,

"So L could be an Other too? Cool!" We're all confused momentarily.

"Uh…why is it cool?" I ask as Hayato regards Tarou scornfully. However, Tarou doesn't lose his resolve.

"Because L is amazing enough without having the power of an Other!" Mitakaro, ever patient, prods Tarou verbally,

"Amazing? Who is L?" Tarou looks round the room, eyeing us all in turn with surprise, a 'you don't know?' look.

"L is the number one detective in the world. He's known for taking impossible cases and then solving them! He solves every single case he takes." Mitakaro looks thoughtful, and the foreigner looks lost.

"Impossible cases…yet he can achieve the impossible…sounds like an Other of some kind to me." Something occurs to me,

"Surely if he's the best detective in the world, he has contacts, and probably a lot of them. If any of them are Others, we could establish a link to L and find out what's going on. I think that maybe we should let L fight his battle in public, and we can continue behind the scenes. If L is so talented, he's helping us- he's almost on our side." The foreigner looks at me with a piercing gaze and I feel my cheeks heat up. Mitakaro nods happily,

"A good point. Let's start from there." The foreigner stops looking at me and I can't help but sigh quietly in relief. Then our boss remembers something, "Oh, and everyone, this is Anton Gorodetsky." He glances towards the foreigner, introducing him. "He's from the Moscow Night Watch, sent over by our comrades in Russia to help out on the case." Now I know that he's from Moscow, I can place the accent with which he speaks Japanese. Anton nods awkwardly, ill at ease as everyone immediately greets him. I suppose that to _gaikokujin, _we're excessively polite. "If you don't mind, Anton and I will take our leave." Mitakaro rises suddenly and Anton does the same, looking assured at having escaped. After the door slams shut and the sound of footsteps fades completely, Ginchiyo smiles, clearly finding something funny.

"What is it, Ginchiyo-san?" I ask, and she reminds me to leave out the honorific before answering,

"I've been there. Russia." It makes sense, they're our neighbours and we have a significant Russian-speaking population here. "They're almost our polar opposites." I frown.

"How so?" She explains,

"They keep to themselves, they're not very outwardly happy. In fact, to any sort of foreigner, the Russians appear rude and intimidating. Hmm, Hinata, tell me, did you learn French at school? I think I remember you mentioning it." I nod, and she continues, "So, you know that in French they have only two ways of addressing another: the familiar form with friends and family, and then the polite form for strangers and adults. Russian has that, and no more. We have all these honorifics, verb forms, words for 'you', they don't. Did you see how ruffled Anton was looking?" I grin as I remember it. "I expect all this politeness is a big culture shock to him. I wonder how we can make him feel welcome…" She muses, and I can begin to understand his unease.


End file.
